Loose-leaf binder.



PATENTED MAR. 1o', 19os. P.- H. SMITH. Loos LEAF BINDER. APPLICATION FILED AUG 29, 1906 UHHINIIIIHIWIIHI WITNESSES.-

ITD STATES PATENT FREDERICK H. SMITH, OF ALAMEDA, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE HALE TO JOHN L. TISDALE, OE ALAMEDA, CALIFORNIA.

LOOSE-LEAF BINDER.

Application led August 29, 1906.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, FREDERICK H. SMITH,

a citizen of the United States, residing at Alameda, in the county of Alameda and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Loose-Leaf Binders, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improved loose leaf binder, the object of the invention being to provide a device'of this character which shall have no loose parts capable of being lost, which can be opened very quickly,

which will have no projections at the back' liable to mar a desk, and will be comparatively flat on the top, which can be used under almost all conditions in which loose leaf binders are at present used, and which will be cheap in construction.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 is is a perspective view showing my improved binder in use; Fig. 2 is a similar view of the same in the position in which the upper cover is partly removed, Eig. 3 is an enlarged detail longitudinal section through one of the screw fastenings; Fig. 4 is a plan view of said fastening, the sleeve being removed.

Referring to the drawing, 1 indicates the back, and 2.the front or top, of my improved binder, the loose sheets being indicated by the numeral 3. Near the edge of the back is inserted, between said back and inner lining 5, a metal plate or strip 6, and at suitable positions are riveted therein, as shown at 7, the reduced ends S of screws 9. Olamped around each reduced end, between the shoulder of the screw and said plate 6, is the annular flange 11 of the tubular socket 12, surrounding said screw but spaced therefrom, to leave room for an internally threaded sleeve 13, having extending from the top thereof at right angles a finger 14. This construction prevents the edges of the sheets of paper around the perforations coming into contact with any threaded or rough surface of the screw, so that there is no liability of said edges being broken o r torn.

Near the edge of the upper or front cover 2 are secured to said cover by flanges clamped thereon in the usual manner the round eyelet 16 of ordinary construction wlich eyelets are located in correspondence with the screws in the lower cover, so that, when the fingers eX- tend at right angles to the plate, they can both pass through said eyelets. The upper Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented March 10, 1908.

Serial No. 332,502.

cover is reinforced where said eyelets are secured by a strip 17 of any suitable material.

In order to prevent the clamping device unscrewing too easily, the screw 9 is located eccentrically within the socket 12, the effect being to cause the internally threaded sleeve 13 to fit snugly between the screw 9 and the inner surface, nearest to said screw, of the socket 12, tending to press said screw away from said nearest surface, said pressure causing the socket to bind on the sleeve and preventing it turning loosely,

The binder is used as follows The screws having been screwed outwards and so that both lingers turn outwards, parallel with each other, in the direction away from the cover, the loose leaves 3 are placed in position by passing said lingers through the apertures therein, and then the upper cover is in like manner placed in position by passing said fingers through the eyelets 16 therein. The fingers are now turned through the right angle, thereby locking the upper cover in position. To remove a leaf all that is necessary is to turn the fingers out and parthe same, and the leaves can be removed. The advantages of this construction are, that there are no parts which are to be separated in the operation of removing or inserting a leaf, thus avoiding accidental loss of such parts; that the device can be operated very quickly, since the cover can be removed by merely turning the fingers out through a right angle, instead of having to unscrew many turns, as is necessary in many prior devices that the operation of unscrewing is itself rendered easy by the provision of the fingers, which are sufficiently long to afford good leverage for that purpose while still able to pass through the eyelets that the device is flat at the back having no parts liable to mar a desk, and does not project very much above the cover at the top; that it can be used under almost any conditions under which loose leaf binders are at present used; that it can be expanded to hold a maximum number of simple sheets of nearly twice the minimum; and that it is cheap and simple in construction.

I am aware that it has been proposed to make loose leaf binders with screw posts having their upper ends bent into gooseneck or crank form, and with metal plates secured by rivets to the marginal extension of the cover, said plates having perforations to receive the posts, and gutters or depressions extending from said perforations to the outer edges of the plates, and adapted to receive the crank-like ends of the posts. By using common round plane flanged eyelets, by which is meant that each flange of the eyelet can rest wholly in contact with a plane surface, as distinguished from such devices as that of the aforesaid plate which requires a gutter or depression on one side to receive the bent end of the post, said eyelets being of sufficient diameter, having regard to the distance of the eyelet from the adjacent edge of the back or cover containing the eyelet, that, when the bent end of the post is turned towards said edge, the eyelet can, upon tilting said cover about said edge, pass over or around the outer angle or corner of said bend, I obtain decided advantages over said prior construction; in cheapness, the common round eyelet containing much less metal and being more easily formed than the aforesaid perforated plate, and also being much more easily secured in place; in avoiding the use of additional rivets; in that these eyelets are substantially fiush with the surface of the cover, and can, under no circumstance, scratch or mar a desk or other furniture g 1n convenience of use; and in attract1veness of I claim:

A loose leaf binder comprising two covers, one of which has an eyelet secured therein and the other has a fixed tubular socket and a fixed screw within said socket, eccentric thereto, and spaced therefrom, and an internally threaded sleeve screwed upon the fixed screw and within the socket, said socket being of sufficient thickness compared with the shortest distance between the screw and the socket to fit snugly therebetween and press said screw towards the center of the socket, said internally threaded sleeve having ay finger extending at right angles from its top and adapted to enter the eyelet in the other cover, substantially as described.

Inftestimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two-subscribing witnesses.

FREDERICK H. SMITH.

Witnesses:

FRANCIS M. WRIGHT, B. NAGGs. 

